Recently, Cricket Association of Pondicherry became the first team to conduct T10 tournaments for women. The Board conducted a couple of T10 tournaments back to back in June.
The young players were divided into four teams – Queens, Diamonds, Lionesses, Angels and on both occasions, Angels went on to lift the trophy.
Pondicherry Women‘s Head Coach Shwetha Mishra spoke to us regarding the importance of the tournament.
Excerpts:
Why T10 tournament?
A:) The idea behind the 10-over tournament was to improve the intent of the girls. It benefited us as we surely saw some great innings and a total of almost 100 thrice. Girls also developed power hitting and learned how to gear up in the shortest format. The bowlers understood the area to bowl and most importantly bowling as per the fieldset. That was the whole idea behind a 10-over tournament.
We noticed that a few players from other states featured in the tournament. Are they going to represent Pondicherry this time?
A:) Poonam Khemnar and Gautami Naik and the rest others played as guest players just for those tournaments. However, we haven’t finalised our guest players for this domestic season.
The tournament featured a lot of youngsters and according to you, how good were they?
The youngsters have picked up really well. Players like Amruta and Roshini, who were in the NCA initial U19 camp also played the second 10 over the tournament. In the first tournament, Yuvashri scored 164 in 6 games and was the player of the tournament. In the second, Amruta got 8 wickets in 6 games. The 15-year-old Kavisha was the player of the tournament. She performed brilliantly both in batting and bowling.
Thailand team is currently in Pondicherry, right?
The Thailand team has come here for their preparations. We have played T20s and 30-over games with them. We will surely play a lot more games with them soon.
The impact of playing against an international like Thailand?
The exposure we get by playing against an international team has helped us a lot, we give good competition and also have won a few games against them. It was surely a confidence booster for the team. The Thailand team has been extremely competitive. Also, practising here at CAP which has wonderful infrastructure would surely help them for their upcoming tournaments.
Who are a few Pondicherry players we should keep an eye on this year?
Yuvashri, Amruta, Roshini, Kavisha, and Janaki are a few young players to look forward to.
Interview by @wetooplay
